FUSION-REACTORS BASED ON COLLIDING BEAMS IN A FIELD-REVERSED CONFIGURATION PLASMA

A plasma consisting of large orbit non-adiabatic ions and adiabatic el ectrons is considered. For such a plasma it is possible that the anoma lous transport characteristic of Tokamaks can be avoided. Experimental evidence in support of this possibility has been obtained with energe tic beams injected into Tokamaks for healing in DIII-D and TFTR and wi th energetic fusion products in JET. Energetic particles were observed to slow down and diffuse classically in the presence of anomalous tra nsport of thermal particles. Assuming that classical transport theory is applicable we have elected to investigate magnetic confinement for field reversed configurations (FRC's). This configuration was chosen b ecause there are some 20 years of experimental investigation, about 60 0 published papers and current programs in Japan to provide background information for a case where a substantial fraction of the ions are n on-adiabatic and contribute to the current. The investigation begins w ith self-consistent equilibrium solutions of the Vlasov-Maxwell equati ons. The classical Fokker-Planck equation is employed to evaluate Coul omb collisions and transport. Reactor configurations based on D - T, D - He-3 and H-B-11 reactions are considered. Energy balance is investi gated considering the only losses to be Bremsstrahlung.